Basil Brush and being the same boy

Much has happened since I started this blog, first started a tumblr, joined asb and gone through a number of remakes of the tumblr apart from deletions of which the most recent was in May for reasons I feel no need to go through publicly on here.

One thing I am no longer prepared to deny is I am a ten year old boy in an adult biologically aged body, that's to say I don't regress so much as I remain the boy I was very in the mindset and headspace of one which is at least a part of the reason I need in real life supervision and why even in my teenage years I was protected from other teens when it came to more 'grown up stuff '.

That was one reason why only one blog got remade for ten year old me and on terms appropriate to a boy and NOT a grown up when it comes to interactions.

I haven't been well this week which is something I've lived very much with  missing chunks of high school education to it so I've been in the sick bed thinking back to the things I loved back then of which one as the Cultural Icon of Boys of my era which is Basil Brush.

Few people appreciate Basil was actually designed by Peter Fermin, the man behind Small Films who gave us Pogles Wood, the Clangers, Bagpuss and whole Trumpton trilogy for an ITV series in 1963 before getting his very own show on BBC Tv in 1968.

That's a picture of him with the late Derek Fowlds which how I first encountered him in Junior School.

This is the tape version of the LP I had as a young boy of his first album of skits and monologues.

Tape was great medium for children being less fiddly to put on and play compared to records apart from lending itself to portable 'shoe box' tape players which we had so we could take it with us or ask a grown up to play on a in car tape player when we were travelling.

That was why EMI Records had a children's tape series of stories and songs we'd love at pocket money prices. 

Because this is Great Britain, anything big and especially for boys and girls had a yearly annual issued in time for Christmas and this applied to Basil with stories, pictures and things from the years tv show.

That was his that was in many boys Christmas stockings in 1973 ready for the new year

That is one of two of my remaining Basil Brush pin on badges, the bigger on from the 1970's with just a hint of metal staining on the rear.

This one is from around the same era but smaller that was pinned onto many a woolly sweater or coat at the time.

Many of us boys loved Basil for his wit, his cheeky interrupting ways getting away with things that often we didn't as much as we shared these impulses the MC of a entertainments show with singers and performers just for children although the grown ups liked watching it with us.

The years may of advanced but nothing has changed in my world that included him.

Christmas Day Edition

Sleighbells are ringing, the lights are on the artificial tree so I'm up and out of jim jams and into my uniform for a touch of breakfast ready to open these presents that are just in the corner of the room in a pile. 

I think most boys have what you might call a  "big present", the main and usually more expensive one and for me it is one that builds on last years, namely the Lego 11004 "Classic" Windows and doors set that adds those items and more lego bricks to last years classic set.
Playing with my Lego was what little boy me needed and still needs, enjoying making and using my imagination in play.

I do like to read but good new stuff for boys is hard to find however this Adventure story for 9-13 year olds is just the thing for little me being written more for boys.

No Christmas could be complete for me without a link to Christmas pasts so I had the Dandy 2020 Annual with all my favourite Dandy characters in it not least Winker Watson, Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan.

The Beano today is different than what it was even in 2005 never mind how it was in the 70's and 80's as I recall well so rather than buying the new annual in the modern rather PC world, I had this 1976 edition, a year from the one I had last year which more as I remember it.
It takes me back to that time and they boyhood I had.

Like most boys soccer aka Association Football is a passion of mine and one leading publication about it has been Shoot! which I recall from Junior School so it's fitting to have an annual that also marks fifty years of the publication

Most of things about Scouting and its relationship to me exist on another blog but like last year I had an annual from the past, the era I remember well for Cub Scouts because being a scout of that age in spirit is really what I am and am about.

When it comes to more of the "Stocking Fillers" one advantage of this current year being very much "The Year of The Boy" is a lot of the ambiguity of recent years just went and so people went more with what they saw and what in the past it always was.  

Thus Mum taking a hint of boyhood regression, bought me "proper"  boy-like Y Fronts like she used to when I was younger apart from never failing to call me anything other than by male pronouns all year.

I had another Green jersey top.

Socks also featured in it as they did when I was younger very much for a boy in actual boy sizes too having small feet rather than just rebranded girls ones as the Adult 'retro' market starts at Size 6 up which doesn't help.

Traditionally made and fitting into the tradition of what Aunts brought me, it was fitting to be given something stereotypical boyish to wear, a sign of the distance travelled in the last couple of years.
My neighbour knitted me a grey hat with black trim apart from giving me some chocolates also seeing very much "That Boy" on the streets talking to him. 

Outside of the literal stocking fillers a specifically boys own colouring book that ties into that passionate interest of mine to help with my hand-eye co-ordination

Rupert The Bear was a love of early boyhood so in with the stocking fillers is his 2020 annual which really is a reprint of stories from the past complete with original illustrations which is as well as many years ago things like Rupert annuals were just removed.

I don't need Rupert annuals from the past as a grown up collecting thing in the way some do so much as I need that connection from him to the Eternal Boy.

If the year began as "The Year of The Boy" it ends with a suitable adult free Christmas that from love contains within it a very boyish feel that I'm most comfortable nay happy for.

Getting that cubby feeling 2019

After last weeks double post lead as this blog always is by real life events and emotions we move on to the Spirit of the Wolf Cub out in the Fall because simply it's a massive part of me to the point there's a separate blog around the whole topic.

Part of the origins of this blog is photography, many of the early entries are connected with it and this is a most colourful time of year so these crisp leaves with wild berries were one thing that caught my eye.

Trees make interesting structures although as here because the woodland is adjacent to a electricity sub-station the branches needed trimming, they still make for an imposing sight, something I do like about this area.

The playing fields is my haunt for other reasons, like play been know to kick a ball about but surrounding it are trees and this in streaming sunlight was one I liked one morning as I was out in my footie gear.

Very close to home literally these berries are most attractive.

Spring clothing replacements

When I last made an entry around this, it was in late June of last year not long after my arrival at ASB.org and the establishment of the That Traditional Schoolboy tumblr and we were looking more at school and more casual play clothes.
One area that not much had been done around due to the malaise and generally feeling off I was going through around the time I established that Tumblr was my sports clothing
Much of what I had was getting on in years showing wear and also it has to be said some was more unisex that I really felt comfortable with then and a long way removed from I now at
The start point for my selections were they had to be what I feel comfortable with being in accordance with what other boys of my era would of worn, clearly designed for men and boys only.

These are Adidas Mens Parma Shorts which are manufactured in CLIMALITE technology to keep the body sweat free and comfortable by allowing maximum air circulation and protecting the body against excess moisture and overheating.

According to Adidas these football shorts should improve the passing game and offer real ball control but we'll see if I can put that claim to the test!

These white ones are Umbro sport polyester jersey football shorts  and it says something about how ailing I been feeling that the last pair of Umbro footie shorts I bought was in the early 2000's from a sportswear shop here in Staffordshire in our city region centres shopping mall before footie shorts got longer.
In addition, I did pick up a more traditional bottle green polyester pair of PE shorts of the 'unbranded' variety as a 'spare pair'.

To go with them I picked up two pairs of these Samson (r) football/hockey socks which apart from being thick do help to keep my regular grey school socks clean in the event I'm moving around on grass.

When was the last time I had a 'proper' footie shirt? A long long time so I thought that could be put right with what should be in as a staple of a British boys outfit by getting this Sans Maracana 2 Short Sleeve Football T-Shirt I can wear with my new shorts and socks.

For non footballing purposes  such as general PE and running around, I bought a few plain fruit of loom t shirts in red like this one, sky blue and light pink, the latter is now more accepted than it was when I was much younger even featuring in some boys/mens football strips.

It's been a long time coming but finally having sports clothing that replicates that of my original boyhood that I'd of felt happy to have been in the company of other boys and their dads in is great thing for me.

I did get somethings that were not sports related that fit more around smart casual and schoolwear.

I had noticed my underwear was starting to bobble a bit which wasn't so surprising as it was bought around a year ago and has been through a number of wash cycles so I found these Marks and Spencers cotton briefs which are the sort of white Y fronted ones I grew up and am happy to be back in being sold as old stock with the label cut out to prevent store returns so I bought several pairs.

Something else that has been missing from my wardrobe for a long time have been polo neck T shirts so I bought two mens cotton ones in blue as the only other option was black and I don't do black tops.

Finally, I did get another pair of Grey school shorts in a sturdy fit that works right on me as believe it or not I've hardly been in longs at all this year so a good spare pair is worth having.

Our 'real boy' play pasts

The inspiration for posts comes from the most unusual places and this one goes back to late last week and my Tumblr.

I quite innocuously  thought when I saw this "well this was a part of my past" and maybe posting it on Tumblr might produce a few likes but it lead to a number of thoughts and comments.
One of first is in today's world it certainly polarizes people, like there are, as Sammy said some who absolutely hate it and everything it represents from the world of the Cowboy, the tough and actually caring man who defended his family and community from threats and general lawlessness.
None of us are so ignorant to say the relationship between settlements and First Nation peoples was perfect and that wrongs were not committed but in looking at the value of things few things are perfect and there was (and is) a value on have strong men who could stand up to threats and take care of situations.
There are too those who regard Boys as being a 'problem' cos we ARE different even as much as our sense of gender identities may differ from that of Girls (and by extension, Women).
No matter how much female lead educators and academics try to push a 'gender neutral' way of raising and educating boys and girls, in most situation that boy always comes out with something different and time-honoured-his boyishness.
For instance for as much as I did play with dolls and spend time with girls enjoying it, I also would freely gravitate to my collection of cap guns playing cops and robbers pretending to shoot dead the robber even if I'd been playing in a more nurturing way minutes before.
I'd also play dress up as a Cowboy, doing the outfit with its hat, gun holster and gun standing tall enjoying pretending to lasso horses, chasing after people with my gun out from its holster and play dead too if shot at in play. 
I loved playing with guns, all sorts of guns and as much as we may well prefer to talk out people in situations there are times where it is impossible so whatever laws may be in place wherever you live, fact is responsible adults may have little option but to use them and so guns have place in society.

People worry about fighting and sure some fighting is wrong, but the fights we have as boys are different because we are testing each others limits, learning to respect them to control our strength and yes even the aggression we are capable of.
That keeps us and society safe long term.
I found playing with more 'physical' boys helped me let all that out while at the same time toughening me up being able to give out and take it which helped when it came to forming clear cut bonds with boys.
It's why I can look you in the eye because we both know what we are whatever differences we had. I love being a boy and wouldn't swap it for anything.

First anniversary post

One year ago, I decided to write a new blog after a very long gap that went back to the mid 2000's when I briefly had a blog on Friends Reunited and after that folded although I like many looked at many sites and blogs, some with now dead hosts I never really found anywhere I felt so comfortable in.

Part of that is because what I am about and what since starting this blog I have found other people about tends to fall between what some people will accept in mainstream sites for non minors and what other people put in with 'adult content' even though there isn't anything that actually meets its everyday definitions.

Part of this is different people use terms and labels as they feel fit but for me being an Adult School Boy is routed more what comes under Age Regression, the extent to which you revert back to being a child, specifically a boy of school age for me from which your actions such as playing etc flow from freely rather than Age Play which is more about acting in accordance of persona of a certain age from an Adult mindset and which may take you into certain adult areas.

For me when I am in a more School Based setting I'm not re-imagining my own education experiences so much as I am reliving those days as if today was that day studying in the way that we did and very much of the mind of that child.

While my era was one that certainly did include a lot of 'chalk and talk', a strongly deferential Sir and child distinction and spanking for one thing it isn't all about on getting a spanking by going to a 'headmaster' figure in a (vintage) uniform as an end in itself.

Far from it, for me the act of reliving ones school days by studying more in way we did, wearing the kind of uniform we did is connected more around the disciplines required to master subjects.

Given the all too real difficulties I have in learning, learning in a more structured, purposeful way with a strong emphasis on mastering facts and skills it aids me as a person who struggled first time around.

People do have different points of view around spanking and if it should be in that relived experience (it doesn't have to be and this blog has never been about spanking) but in so far as it applies to me, it only applies if by the norms of that era I did something that would of resulted in it rather than my actively seeking it having accepted that as legal adult.

One thing I touched on very early on within the blog too some of my own personal struggles  such as dealing with multiple disabilities which for me was very much a part of my own childhood which is an area of this life I freely talk about not least because at least in someways society - and that includes you - has moved on even if one one hand we have still pockets of outright discrimination and abuse and on the other patronizing highly Pc attitudes that only undermine not just our self worth but also of expecting us to ' be wrapped in cotton wool' and not expected to work within the same social expectations and everyday rules as everyone else.

Another area is the mish-mash around sex and gender roles and identities where by the standards of that era although I liked being a boy, some of the things I naturally liked tended to be looked down on for being more 'girlish' which at times left me feeling very much an outsider in my own shell.

When I started this blog, it was before I started to directly follow and interact even with people on social media in which I arrived in April, pretty 'green' on Tumblr with a Tumblr a bit like this blog that has built up a fairly big following.

Through that interaction and people just being open about themselves I have become much more confident around who I am.

Recently I had the opportunity to engage with others in a water fight, the kind of thing you may well of done but for a variety of reasons I never did.
Going out with some old clothes on - a t shirt and football shorts - I went out armed with a water pistol, fully loaded.

I approached my adversaries at close quarters, making eye contact firing at them as I felt alive in my boy physic repealing them as they soaked me, not giving up until the very end even as my face and eyes were covered.
I stood up for myself, channeling my masculine sides energy through me with no shame nor fear in the presence of others.

I stood there having faced down my fears and issues victorious. I had shown myself to be a Real Boy and it felt good.